I finally was able to make contact with a Nursery Manager in London. Her name is Lindsey Barrett and has been a manager for Busy Bees child care center for 18 years and has been with Busy Bees since the center opened 20 years ago. Their center is open for children aged 12 weeks to 5 years old, with 76 children enrolled. I did not have the chance to directly discuss poverty in her community (I will have a response early next week) but I did do research on poverty levels in London in preparation for our conversation. Over the last two decades London has seen a rise in poverty levels, particulary in working adults, boroughs are becoming overcrowded and children in Southwark, Enfield, Lambeth and Harrow are more likely to pass away before their first birthday than children born elsewhere in London (http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/key-facts/). I learned that Busy Bee child care centers have taken the initiative to "adopt" a charity each year and they spend the year fundraising for the charity. I think this is a great! I will update this post once I hear back from Lindsey, she said it has been a really busy week at her center!
3 comments:
Amber,
Do you know from your research if the overcrowding in London is due to immigration issues?
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
I have not read anything in relation to overcrowding and immigration, but I am interested to dig further to find out!
Dear Amber,
Thanks for sharing, since I do not know anything about the state of poverty in London. So, these specific areas of the city are the ones that need targeted assistance? I know you mentioned this nursery picks a charity each year, but I wonder if other organizations are working for the children in London? With this being a large city, I wonder what the data and statistics are. I am also curious about this nursery. How are the "birth through age 5" children divided up and educated. I watched a special on the Royal Baby's upcoming birth and they were telling about how they will pick the nannies. They said that there is a school for nannies in England that prepares nannies to work in homes. The Royal Family chooses nannies from one particular school and they have to pass all of these "tests." It's an interesting training/schooling for early childhood education. Quite different from the U.S.
Thanks for sharing!
Anne
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